Professor Neil Greenberg, President of UKPTS and Director of March on Stress, said: “Many organisations routinely expose their staff to traumatic situations as part of their job but currently there is no specific guidance available as to how these organisations should help their staff prepare for, and remain resilient after, exposure to these events.

“While only about 3% of the UK population are likely to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), personnel working in trauma exposed organisations experience much higher rates of PTSD. For instance up to 20% of war correspondents and fire-fighters, 10% of Police officers and up to 1/3 of military personnel in the US and 7% of combat troops in the UK have been found to suffer with PTSD.

“We welcome this new guidance and hope it will improve the health and wellbeing of personnel who work in high threat environments.”

The UKPTS is the UKs multi-professional society of experts and leaders in the field of traumatic stress. The document they have released has been approved by the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and is freely available to download via the society’s website.